Halloween Pranks
by Andromeda2000
Summary: It's Harry's first Halloween, and in between of everything, his Daddy gets pranked, but something goes wrong. Oneshot.


**Author's Note**

**This is written for a competition.**

**It's a one-shot on Harry's first Halloween when he's only 4 months old and how his Daddy gets pranked. **

James was watching Harry for the day while Lily was out shopping for last-minute decorations. He laughed as he saw his son trying to stuff a fake spider in his mouth and hopped over to take it out. "No spiders." He told him, picking him up and grinning. "Spiders aren't yummy, Harry."

Harry seemed as if he were about to cry, his green eyes wide and watery.

James looked at him, panicked. He had no idea what to do if he started crying. And his eyes, oh God, Lily's eyes…

"Finding the Daddy job difficult, Prongs?" Sirius laughed, from behind him, leaning against the side of the front door.

James flew to his feet, holding Harry protectively against his chest. He calmed down when he saw him. "Merlin's beard! You gave me a heart attack." James' lips relaxed in a smile.

Sirius chuckled. "You left the front door open there, mate."

James' eyes widened. "Don't tell Lily. She won't hold me responsible for the house ever again."

Sirius shook his head, with a grin. "Won't tell. Sooo, happy Halloween, man."

James shifted Harry's weight on his waist and clasped his shoulder. "To you too, Padfoot."

Harry smiled toothlessly and reached for Sirius, talking about something in some made-up baby language.

Sirius laughed as he picked his godson up and held him at eye-level. "Hey there little buddy."

Harry pushed his tiny feet, covered in little blue socks up to his godfather's chest, kicking with what seemed to be all of his strength.

Sirius pretended to be wounded. "Oh dear, James, take the child! You have wounded me, Harry!"

James took his son from his best friend as Sirius dropped on the couch dramatically. "What have you done!"

Harry burst in a fit of giggles and snuggled up against James.

"So, what are your plans today?" Sirius asked him, sitting up and smiling.

"Uh. No trick or treating." He sighed. "Lily said I'm not allowed to take Harry."

"What!" Sirius said, horrified. "Why not?!"

"Apparently he's 'too young' or whatever." James rolled his eyes. "He's 4 months old, I did plenty of things when I was 4 months old."

Sirius snickered. "Yeah. Like eating and sleeping."  
"Hey! That's all every baby does!" James said, defensively.  
"James, Harry _is _a baby." Lily pointed out, putting the keys down on the table.

James turned around and grinned. "Hey Lils." He said, kissing her gently.

Lily smiled and pulled away. "Hey James."  
"I didn't hear you come in."  
"Course you didn't, I'm not as loud as you." She pointed out, getting her coat off and hanging it.

"She has an excellent point. I've never heard a louder person." Sirius agreed, laughing.  
James went bright red. "Shut up, you." He said, narrowing his eyes. "And yes, you're right, love, Harry is a baby… but he's no _ordinary_ baby."  
"Oh no? He's not?" Lily asked, amused. "And why's that?"  
"Well.. well… well, because. Because he's _my _baby." James tried to explain.

Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, with a smile. "Every baby is somebody's baby too, remember?"  
"Yes, well, but I'm… I'm me." He said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lily chuckled. "Right."

Harry reached for his mother, pouting his lip out.

She smiled and picked him up, holding him tight. "Hey there, sweetheart." She kissed his tiny head. "How are you, baby boy? Have you been a nice little boy with Pa?"

"He nearly cried." James said, proudly.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "And why is that something to be proud of?"  
"Well… he didn't cry." James said, puffing out his chest. "That is an absolute record."

Lily snorted.

Harry giggled, putting his head on her shoulder.

"You have a crazy Daddy there, honey. Hey James, do you mind giving me some chocolate?"  
"I don't have any now… weren't you supposed to buy it?" He asked.

"No, no I didn't. Right, James, I'm going to visit Alice and Frank, alright? We've arranged a playdate for Harry, Neville is there so they can play. Frank is going to work with the Order today, but Alice and I are going to have some fun there watching the kids."

"Okay." James nodded, and kissed her forehead. "Love you."  
Lily smiled at him and kissed his nose. "Love you too, honey." She hugged him tightly, as he put his arms around her.

Sirius coughed pointedly. "Get a room you too." He teased.

James glared at him as he let go of her. "Have fun."

"I will." Lily nodded, with a smile. "See you later. OH! You two. Decorate the house."

James nodded, with a grin. "Will do." He kissed his son's head and held his hand with his finger for a moment. "Love you, little guy."

"Right, we're off." Lily said, smiling and waving at them as she left.

James' eyes were on his wife and his son until they disappeared out the door and he sighed.

"So, how many pranks have you decided?"

"Only one." James answered. "The moment when she tries to move the pumpkin from the table, it will explode. But I still have to physically do that."

Sirius nodded. "We'll need more after that, if we want to live up to our names." He reminded him. "But for now…" his mischievous smirk appeared, "let's work on that one."

James laughed and nodded. "Alrighty."

The two friends walked into the kitchen and James put his hand on the pumpkin, ready to charm it, when the whole light went out. Even the daylight from the window seemed to go dark. "Sirius?" James asked, quiet.

"I'm here." Sirius whispered.

James searched for his wand and held it tightly in his hand and held it up. "Lumos." He whispered, but nothing happened.

"Magic isn't working." Sirius muttered under his breath. "That's no good sign."

There was a woman's scream up from above, it was so loud and terrified and so very known that it made James feel dizzy. He started to try and run to her, to Lily, to whatever was scaring her so much. He felt as if he were about to vomit but he was nowhere, there was nothing but darkness, he couldn't breathe or move, frozen in place, his hand still touching the pumpkin.

"That's Lily." James' voice broke as he felt dread in his heart.

"I know, she'll be okay, she'll be okay." Sirius promised, close to tears.

"PRONGS! PADFOOT!" A man's shout came from upstairs. Peter's. "IT'S REMUS! REMUS IS A WOLF!" There was the growl of a beast and objects being knocked over.

"Wormy." A strangled sob came out of Sirius in the darkness, and James heart seemed to shatter. Peter was so defenceless against their best friend if he had turned into a wolf. How could this be happening?

He tried desperately to move, to free his hands from the pumpkin which was icy-cold and kept his fingers stuck to it, its cold seemed to freeze his blood, his muscles, his bones, everything but his mind and his heart.

Suddenly, Sirius started coughing. "James…" he whispered. "Blood… help…" he continued coughing out, but James couldn't move. He was sobbing Sirius' name, as his best friend choked on his own blood.

It was a cry that did it. Not Lily's scream. Not Wormtail's plead. Not Moony's growl. Not Sirius' choking. But a cry. A baby's cry, so loud and desperate for a known face, hidden somewhere in the house. He let go of the pumpkin, with some force unknown to him, and then everything shot right back to its normal. He was on the couch, Sirius beside him. Lily was shouting loudly at somebody and Harry was crying. James looked around, confused.

"YOU IDIOT! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TICKLING POTION NOT A NIGHTMARE ONE!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Peter stammered.

"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT DID TO HIM. WHAT WAS PASSING IN YOUR MIND…"

But James was on his feet, crying, as he ripped his son from Remus' arms, who was sighing, and held him to his chest. "Harry…" he croaked. "Harry… you're safe… you're safe…"

Remus looked at him, biting his lip. "James? What happened in your dream?"

"What… what was that?" James asked, looking around and holding onto Harry.

"Wormy messed up the potions, James." Lily sighed. "I asked you for a treat… the chocolate… you refused. So it was a trick, you had told Wormtail about the pumpkin thing and he bought what was supposed to be the tickling potion for me… instead… he got it wrong and bought the nightmare potion!"

James blinked a couple of times and realized that what had been horrifyingly true in his dream was starting to muddle up, and he couldn't quite remember it. "Oh, that's fine." He said, smiling. He could only remember fear, now, nothing else.

"Really?" Wormtail asked, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah."

"But… James…" Lily exclaimed, surprised.

"I don't remember it." James said, honestly.

"Course you don't." Remus answered. "Nightmare potion drifts off about five minutes after it loses its effect. And you don't remember anything about whatever dream you did."  
Sirius smirked. "Remus did his homework."

"Remus actually did do his homework." Lily reminded him. "That's 7th year stuff, remember?"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I remember."

"Lily?" James asked, turning to her, while Harry cuddled up against him.

"Yeah?" Lily asked, with a smile.

"Next time you want to prank me… please try to do it decently." He kissed her softly for a second before pulling away.

Lily smiled. "I'll try." She promised.

"Now, guys, enough smooching. Who wants to go trick or treating?" Sirius said, loudly and grinning mischievously.

And that night, dressed in their wizarding cloaks, the Marauders, Lily and little Harry gathered candy amongst Godric's Hollow's streets.


End file.
